Canvassing is the art of hitting the target the first time.
I've talked about organizing here before, but never technically because you just... can't.
Some people try to train on it that way, but it just doesn't do it right.
My first training ever, the guy that was running it was probably one of the best "technicians" that ever did it. He originated the Mt. Olive "Don't Pay a Nickel for a Mount Olive Pickle" campaign. He started the Organizing Institute. Needless to say, he's one bad motherfucker.
When I got him alone for five minutes, he told me that basically the best way to learn is to do it. The raps, the readthroughs, the critiques... all of that shit is technical. Everything else is experiential.
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SEIU has changed a little since my first housecall.
We've since spent 60.7 million dollars on the Obama campaign. We spent less than one percent of that number on membership education in the two years I've been working.
We've since overthrown UHW.
We've since sought to overtake UNITE HERE, only succeeding and taking one piece.
My union has become something that I can't continue to love in the same way. How do you love someone that doesn't really love you?
Black rods and iron bars make a prison and that seems to be all that SEIU is buying.
And I have never wanted to live in a cage.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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